


Hero

by LadyWallace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Captured Jack Kline, Case Fic, Depressed Jack, Episode: s14e16 Don't Go In the Woods, Fatherly Castiel, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt Jack Kline, Hurt/Comfort, Jack is still a hero, Jack works a case by himself, Post 14x16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-02 07:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19194499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: Post 14x16—Desperate to prove that he can do something without screwing up, Jack looks into a local case involving missing children alone. However when he's taken captive, he has to decide whether he should risk using his powers or risk ending up dead, or worse, and the children with him.





	Hero

Jack clutched the bags tight against his chest as he sat on the bench at the bus stop, waiting for the next bus to come so he could take it to the last stop at the edge of town. After that it would still be a bit of a walk to the bunker, but he still wasn't very comfortable with driving, at least not alone, and didn't want to risk crashing or getting pulled over. Sam had made him a fake license and Jack had made sure to bring it into town this time so he could pick up beer, but he wasn't very good at lying and he felt rather uncomfortable using fake IDs unless he was on a hunt.

Not that he was hunting a lot lately. He bit his lip as he thought of it, of the empty bunker he would come back home to. Mary had left the day before on an urgent case to help Jody and Donna take care of something. Sam, Dean and Cas had left several days before her to go to Washington to look into a rash of mysterious deaths there. He'd offered to go with them, help out, but they'd all made some excuse. They always made excuses these days. Ever since Jack had killed Michael.

And he didn't blame them, not really. He obviously couldn't control his own powers, and, frankly, he wasn't sure he wanted to find out what might happen if he couldn't control them on a hunt. He'd already hurt enough people.

Jack felt a pit open in his stomach at the thought of those teenagers. He had just wanted to make some friends, and he'd almost killed Stacy, just because he thought it would be cool to show off. Never mind that he'd been able to heal her, the accident had happened anyway, just when he'd thought he was in control. He never _had_ been in control and he should have realized that. He almost hated taking on Michael's power. Things had been simpler when he was human, even if he was dying, even if he was burning off his soul whenever he attempted to use even the smallest amount of power.

So, no, he didn't blame the Winchesters or Cas for not wanting him on hunts anymore. He just wished there was a way he could prove to them and himself that he could still be helpful. That he could actually do something without screwing up.

He looked up as a woman walked by on the sidewalk, her arms full with a stack of papers. She stopped at a telephone pole and began to staple papers onto the it, one on each side. Jack watched her, frowning as he saw her eyes were red-rimmed and she looked very upset.

He stood slowly, abandoning the bag of groceries for a minute as he took a step toward her.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" Jack asked cautiously.

She started and looked over at him, before her face crumpled slightly. She sniffed, shaking her head as she rubbed her eyes, smearing a little dark makeup in the corner. "No…I…My daughter is missing."

Jack frowned, glancing at the paper she had put on the pole then. It had a picture of a smiling little girl about eight or nine with blond hair and freckles decorating her cheeks.

The woman pulled another paper from her stack and handed it to him. "Her name's Kaley, have you seen her anywhere?"

Jack took the paper and studied it before he shook his head, an ache starting in his chest at the mother's grief, reminding him that he must still have _some_ of his soul left. "No, I'm sorry. But I'll be sure to keep an eye out."

The woman sniffed again and touched his arm. "Thank you." Then she continued down the street, stopping at every pole to post more pictures.

The bus was coming down the street and Jack hurried back to grab his bags, tucking the flyer into his coat. Maybe…maybe he could help this woman find her daughter. That couldn't be too hard, could it?

When he got back to the bunker, he put the groceries away and then sat down in the library, pulling up the local news site to look for more information on the missing girl.

He was shocked to find she hadn't been the only child missing in town. In fact, there were two others before her, all in the same week; another girl and a boy. All of them were between the ages of six and ten, and all of them had disappeared on their way home from school, assumedly on a stretch of the walk that went by the woods.

Jack sat, torn. He knew the police were looking into this, but…maybe this wasn't their kind of thing. Maybe something supernatural was taking children. And if that was the case, then it was Jack's duty to look into it. Donatello had told him to do what he thought Sam and Dean would do and they definitely would not leave a case involving children unsolved.

For a moment, Jack considered calling Sam and Dean and telling them. Maybe they were already on their way home. Perhaps he should let them handle this to make sure that nothing went catastrophically wrong. But…three children had already disappeared this week and it was almost time for the school to let out again. What if more kids went missing? What if something terrible had already happened to the ones who were already missing? Jack couldn't stand the thought of knowing something was wrong, of having the power to help and not helping. That wasn't what the Winchesters and Cas had taught him.

Decision made, Jack went to grab his backpack. He had no idea what he might be hunting, so he packed everything: angel blade, silver knife and a gun with every kind of bullet they had as well as iron, holy water and rock salt in case this was a ghost or demon. He wasn't going to rely on his powers this time. He was going to hunt the way the Winchesters had taught him. At least he could do a little recon, and see if there was any sign of what might be out there.

Jack took the bus back into town and past his usual stop to one closer to the elementary school. The bell must have just rung because there were children leaving, walking down the street. A lot of them seemed to be going home with parents or older siblings, but some were still walking down the street, though Jack noticed they all went in pairs or groups. Their parents and teachers had probably cautioned them not to go anywhere alone. Jack had read some of Sam's books on serial killers and he knew that they usually didn't take children in groups. More opportunities for their kidnapping to go wrong.

Monsters however, didn't usually follow those rules and if there was a chance that this wasn't just a human psycho, then using the buddy system wouldn't keep these kids safe.

Maybe Jack could though.

He made his way down the sidewalk, until he got to a wooded area. He looked around, seeing that it was actually a pretty deserted part of the track, even though it eventually opened up into a park where he was sure a lot of the kids enjoyed playing while they waited for parents to pick them up. Today though, it was pretty deserted.

Jack took a seat on one of the park benches that gave him a good vantage point to watch the kids leaving the school.

Most of them hurried past the woods, obviously scared that they could disappear as well, or were ushered past by adults if they were with their parents. However, Jack spotted two children, looking like a sister and her younger brother, making their way directly into the woods.

The boy, seeming to protest, pulled on her hand, but she tugged him along. Jack frowned, and stood up, heading in their direction. Most of the other kids had trickled toward town by now and the area was mostly deserted. It would be a prime opportunity for whoever was snatching children to do so and these two were deliberately heading into the woods.

Jack slipped into the trees and saw the children hurrying through the woods ahead of him.

"But April what about the monster!" the boy was protesting as his sister dragged him further.

"Ben, those are just stories! There's nothing here and it's a quicker way home through the woods!"

"But Mrs. Jacobs told us not to go into the woods! That's how Tommy disappeared!"

The girl was silent for a moment. "My teacher said as long as you stay together you'll be okay. And I'm with you. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

The boy sighed, but nodded. "Okay."

A branch cracked further into the forest and both Jack and the kids stopped suddenly.

"What was that?" Ben asked, voice wavering.

Jack caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and hurriedly reached into his coat to pull out his angel blade. He waited a second but saw nothing else. Maybe he was imagining things, but it was better to be on the safe side. He needed to get these kids out of here now.

He stepped out of the trees and the two siblings startled and whipped around to stare in horror as he appeared.

Jack tried to smile, holding up the hand that wasn't holding the angel blade. "Hello."

The boy screamed and hid behind his sister. April took a staggering step back but tried to look fierce. "Leave us alone!" she said.

Jack frowned. "I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to get you home safe. Something is taking children out here. You shouldn't be out here alone."

"Why do you have a sword?" Ben asked shakily.

"Oh," Jack said, motioning to his angel blade. "It's to fight monsters."

The girl seemed skeptical. "There's no such things as monsters and mommy said not to talk to strangers so go away. We don't need your help."

She grabbed her brother's arm and started running through the woods.

"Wait!" Jack called and hurried after them, when something jumped out in front of them, snarling.

April and Ben screamed, staggering back as the mobster loomed over them, huge teeth glistening and yellow eyes glowing.

Jack realized it was one of Michael's monsters. The Winchesters had taken down several packs of them in the past few weeks. They seemed to be running wild after Michael's death. That was what Mary had gone to help Jody and Donna with.

The werewolf or whatever it had been loomed over the children, reaching down to grab them.

There was no time for Jack to get over there, he simply raised his hand.

"Hey!" he shouted and released a blast of power.

The werewolf glanced up just in time to be hit by it, staggering back a step before it snarled and lunged forward, grabbing Ben and making as if to run with him.

Jack let out another blast of power and this time he hit the werewolf square in the chest.

Unfortunately, Ben was also hit by the blast. Jack watched in horror as the werewolf skidded across the ground and the boy slammed into a tree.

"Ben!" April screamed rushing toward her brother as the boy slumped on the ground.

Jack was frozen, unable to move as the girl turned Ben over. He had a bloody gash on his head, but his eyes opened. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He moved to help, but April spun around and held her brother close.

"Get away!" she screamed. "What are you? What was that?"

"I…I promise I'm trying to help," Jack nearly pleaded. "Please, I can heal him…"

"Stay away from him!" she cried, picking up a rock and hurling it at Jack, hitting him in the knee. "You did this to him! You're a monster!"

Jack staggered back, hurt, but not blaming her at all. He was a monster.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize the wolf he had knocked down was getting back up and, worse, was now joined by several others.

"Well, well, it's the little nephillim," one snarled with a low chuckle. "We've been looking for you."

"You killed Michael," another said.

Jack glowered at them. "I won't let you hurt these kids."

One of the wolves laughed, and pulled out an angel blade. "Oh yeah? What makes you think we'll give you the chance to protect them?"

They lunged at him, and Jack tried to summon his powers, but he was tackled to the ground, his concentration interrupted. He struggled, but the werewolf holding the angel blade slammed it into his head several times. Jack's vision blacked out and he lolled onto the ground, turning helplessly to the kids.

"Run," he groaned.

April tried to drag her bother to his feet but one of the wolves was already reaching out to grab them, throwing them both over his shoulders kicking and screaming.

"More new recruits," he sneered with a dark chuckle and Jack struggled to escape the grasp of the other wolves, trying to summon his powers again.

"No!" he cried.

The blade was slammed into his head again and this time, the blackness overtook him fully.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack came to slowly_. The first thing he was aware of was the pounding in his head, reminiscent of the terrible headaches he'd suffered when a captive of Michael in the apocalypse world. And then he began to hear whimpers and the sound of soft crying close by.

He forced his eyes open with a groan, and blinked away a wave of dizziness as he pushed himself upright. His hands were manacled together in front of him and there were sigils on the cuffs. He realized as he looked around that he was in a cage and there was warding on the bars too. His head ached more sitting up, and he could feel the blood drying in his hair, but he tried to push that aside to look around.

There was another cage next to his and this one was filled with children. April and Ben were there huddled into a corner, April holding her brother close to her as he stared around with wide-eyes. Three other children were there with them, all of whom Jack recognized from the missing persons reports.

He shuffled closer to the cage bars and peered at the children who were all eyeing him warily.

"Are you all okay?" he asked.

April pulled her brother closer and the other little boy in the cage started crying again.

Jack glanced between the children and noticed a blond girl with freckles. "Are you Kaley?"

She looked up, hugging her knees to her chest and sniffing. Jack tried to smile, hoping to make her comfortable. "I saw your mom, Kaley. She's really worried about you. I told her I would bring you home." The words fell flat though. Jack wasn't sure how he would accomplish that anymore.

But the little girl seemed to have her interest peaked. She scooted closer to Jack's cage and grabbed the bars. "You saw my mom?"

"Don't talk to him!" April snapped at the girl, making her startle. "He's a monster just like the others! He hurt my brother!"

Kaley shifted away from the bars, but still watched Jack. "Why is he locked up too, then?"

"April, I'm sorry about what happened in the woods," Jack told the girl. "I promise I never meant to hurt him."

"Just stay away from us," April told him.

The other children glanced at each other with wide eyes, not seeming to be sure who to believe. Jack slumped back against the cage, closing his eyes in an attempt to ease his aching head. He needed to come up with a plan to get these kids out of here and fast.

A door screeched open and he looked up to see two of Michael's monsters coming into the room. The kids started to cry out, huddling together and screamed as the monsters came over to the cage.

"Shut up!" One kicked the cage, sending the children scrambling as far away as possible.

"Leave them alone!" Jack growled.

The werewolves turned to him and smiled. "Don't worry, we're not ready for them yet. We need something from you first."

He leaned down to unlock Jack's cage and Jack struggled as the werewolf reached in and dragged him out. But with the warded cuffs, Jack was helpless against their strength. Besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to use his powers anymore anyway. Not when the children could get caught in the crossfire.

"Lucky you happened to fall right into our hands; we've been looking all over for you," one of the werewolves said as he threw Jack to the floor and the other looped a chain through the one attaching his cuffs together. He threw the chain over a hook hanging down from the ceiling and hauled Jack to his feet, his arms stretched painfully above his head.

"What do you want with me?" Jack demanded, trying to get better footing, but his toes were only barely scraping the floor. "Did you just kidnap those children to get my attention?"

"Not exclusively, but we were hoping it would attract the attention of your Winchester pals. We would have taken them to lure you to us if we had to, but fortunately, we didn't even have to take that extra step." The werewolf grinned.

"But the kids do have a part to play," the other one said. "You see, without Michael, we don't have a leader anymore, but we still have a mission. Michael promised us a monster world, and we want it. And we're going to get it. And nothing you or your hunter pals can do is going to stop us from reaching that goal."

Jack glowered at them. "How am I and a bunch of kids supposed to help with that?"

One of the wolves reached up to grip Jack's chin, sneering at him. "You killed Michael and took his grace. We need it back if we're going to make an army. Some of us got the magic recipe."

"And the kids," the other said with a wicked grin. "They're part of Michael's phase two. Turn the children, give them a little of the special sauce, and release them back to their families. Chaos ensues."

Jack stared at them in horror. "You can't!"

"We can and we will." A vampire came into the room then, a small box held in his hands. He set that onto a small table with a bowl and other ingredients. "This grace is not yours, and so we're only taking back what rightfully belongs to us." The vampire opened the box and pulled out a syringe. Jack thought for a moment it had something in it, but as the vampire turned toward the light, he saw it was empty. He frowned, not entirely sure what it was for.

The vampire smirked and stepped forward. "Maybe we'll leave you enough so you can fight on our side. Ever wonder what would happen to a nephillim if they were turned by a vampire or a werewolf?"

Jack's heart pounded in his chest at the threat. The vampire advanced on him with the syringe and Jack kicked out at him, catching him in the knee.

The vampire staggered back with a growl and nodded to the werewolves. "Hold him."

The werewolves closed in on Jack and he fought furiously, tugging on the chains, trying to get loose. He kicked out at them, but they slammed their fists into his face and body, holding onto him tightly as he fell limp, panting.

The vampire came up and grabbed his chin, wrenching his head to one side. "This might sting a little." He jabbed the needle into Jack's neck and Jack winced at the prick, before total agony started.

The vampire drew up the plunger of the syringe, and as he did so, Jack felt it pulling at his grace, drawing it out of him. It was excruciating. He screamed, unable to help it.

The agony went on for what felt like an eternity before the vampire finally yanked the needle from his neck and stepped aside. Jack could see through bleary eyes that the syringe was filled with glowing grace. He sagged in his chains, his body trembling from the shock. He could taste blood and realized he had bitten through his lip at some point during the torture.

The vampire nodded to his companions. "We'll start with this. I'll make up the mixture and we'll turn the kids later."

They left the room and Jack slumped, panting. He heard shuffling and sniffling from the kids and finally a tentative voice.

"Are you okay?"

He lolled his head over and saw Kaley pressing her face against the bars, the other children, even April watching him with some concern.

Jack took a deep breath, trying to smile but he figured it probably turned into more of a grimace. "I'll—I'll be fine."

"What was that stuff?" Ben asked, eyes wide.

Jack glanced toward the door before answering. "It was…my powers."

"Are you a super hero?" the other little boy asked, pressing his face to the bars.

Jack frowned, remembering some of the comic book movies he had watched. "Well, I have powers and I save people so…yes?"

The kids murmured excitedly and the little boy said, "It's okay, even superheroes get beaten up sometimes. But they always save the day in the end."

Jack didn't say that sometimes real life didn't happen like that. He smiled instead. "And I'll get you out of here. I promise."

"What did they mean when they said they would turn us?" April asked finally.

Jack bit his lip, glancing back at the door. "They…they want to make you like them, but I don't let that happen."

"How?" she demanded. "You're chained up, and you promised not to let anything happen to us in the woods and then we ended up here. You're not a very good hero."

Jack didn't want to admit how much her words hurt. Probably because they were true. "Maybe not," he admitted. "But I still won't let anything happen to you."

He looked around the room and finally spotted his backpack, lying carelessly against the back wall by the cages.

"Kaley," he said and the little girl looked up at him. "Can you or one of the others reach that backpack?"

They all looked around and spotted the bag, hurrying over to that side of the cage. Kaley reached out of the cage, face pressed up against the bars, but her arm was too short to reach the bag.

"I can't," she said helplessly.

"Let me try," said the other little boy.

One by one each kid tried to reach the bag but they couldn't. April sat with her arms folded over her chest, watching them warily. Jack watched her. She was older, taller, her arms were longer. She might be able to reach it.

"April, can you try to reach the bag for me?" he asked softly.

She hesitated a moment until Ben looked at her. "Please, April. He's trying to help us."

April caved and scooted to the other side of the cage. "Fine." She reached through the bars, straining until her fingers brushed one of the straps. Then she curled her fingers around it and pulled it back. The kids cheered until Jack shushed them.

"Shh, don't let them hear you," he said and they hushed.

"Now what?" Kaley asked.

"There's a black case in the front pocket." Jack told her. He was glad he had also packed his lock-pick set just in case. Kaley opened the pocket and pulled it out.

"Good now open it up and pull out one of the little tools."

She did as he asked and scooted as close to him as she could get.

"Now can you toss it over to me? Near my feet?" Jack asked.

He was going to try something and he wasn't sure if it would work. He was already slipping his shoes off, standing on top of them to get a little extra height.

Kaley screwed up her face in concentration and reached through the bars, sliding the tool across the floor. It came to a stop directly against one of Jack's shoes and he grinned.

"Good job," he said. He nudged the tool with one of his sock feet. It took a little maneuvering but he grabbed it between his toes. Now came the hard part.

Jack clenched his teeth, and shoved his other foot into the added level of his shoes, jumping as hard as he could. His fingers grasped at the chain attached to the hook, but they slipped. He tried again, and then several more times until he finally got ahold of the chain with his manacled hands. He was breathing heavily, his whole body trembling, and somehow he hadn't lost the lockpick between his toes. He took a moment to breathe, making sure his grip was tight on the chain and then pulled himself up with his arms.

He flipped his legs up with a less than smooth movement, his whole body singing with pain, but he wrapped his legs around the chain, locking his ankles so that he was hanging upside down.

Jack breathed in again, his head pounding even more at this angle. He would have to work fast.

He slid his foot with the lockpick down until he could grab it in one hand. He felt the kids watching him with bated breath as he carefully maneuvered the lockpick into one of the keyholes on the manacles. His hands were shaking and his head was pounding so much that his vision was growing dark around the edges, but he worked the lock and finally heard a _snick_. The cuff popped open and he shook it off his wrist, grabbing the lockpick in his free hand.

That was when he slipped. Jack cried out involuntarily as gravity righted him violently and he came to a stop with an agonizing jerk. He felt something tear in his shoulder and was blinded by pain for a second before he came back to himself.

"Jack?" Kaley asked worriedly from the cage.

"I'm good," he panted and realized he'd dropped the pick. He scrambled with his foot again, barely grasping it in his toes long enough to bring to his free hand, but he did it and then he stretched as far as he could and unlocked the other cuff.

Relief flooded through him as he collapsed onto the ground, cradling his injured arm against him. He tried to force his grace to work, but it felt frayed and torn, hurting as much as his shoulder did.

Jack abandoned the attempt to heal himself. He didn't have time. He scrambled into his shoes and then hurried over to the cage, working the pick in the lock.

It sprung free and he threw open the door. The kids piled out, Kaley and the other little girl throwing their arms around him. Jack smiled but knew they had to find a way out of here before the monsters came back.

"Okay, just follow me," he said and grabbed his backpack, rummaging through it for a machete.

Ben's eyes widened as he saw it and his sister wrapped her arms around his shoulders protectively.

The noise obviously had finally alerted the monsters to their escape though because before Jack could find a way out, the vampire and his werewolf companions came through the door, fury on their faces as they saw the kids out of the cage.

"Get behind me!" Jack cried as one of the werewolves lunged toward him instantly, swiping with his claws.

Jack dodged and lashed out with the machete. He managed to catch the monster across the arm, but it only made the werewolf mad. He growled and lashed out at Jack, catching him across the chest. Jack gasped and staggered back.

"Behind you!" One of the kids screamed and Jack swung around, narrowly missing a blow from the other werewolf that would have gutted him.

He made a lunge and dove for his pack digging into it and coming up with his gun.

"Silver bullets don't work on us," the werewolf sneered.

Jack pointed the barrel down and shot the wolf in the knee instead. He howled, collapsing and Jack leapt forward and cut his head off. The kids screamed. Jack didn't have time to feel bad though, as he was born to the ground by the vampire.

Fangs descended and nearly latched onto his neck, but Jack summoned what little power he could and forced it out in a shock wave. Both the vampire and the second werewolf who was coming up on him were thrown backwards. Jack hauled himself to his feet and swung his machete twice, effectively chopping off their heads. Soon all three monsters were lying headless on the ground.

Jack swayed, his whole body aching, but he forced himself into action and grabbed his backpack as he motioned to the kids.

"Come on. Let's get you home."

They seemed somewhat hesitant after watching him fight and Jack was worried for a moment that they wouldn't come with him, but then April, surprisingly, was the one to step forward.

"Come on," she said.

They followed Jack outside the building. Jack realized it was a cabin somewhere in the woods, and scrambled for the phone in his backpack to see if he could find their location. Luckily they weren't far from town. He called the number from the flyer Kaley's mom had given him and told her he had found her daughter.

Half an hour later he led the kids from the forest to the park and Kaley's mom as well as the other parents and other town members were gathered there.

Kaley ran to her mother as soon as she saw her and Jack watched the teary reunion, weary, but grateful that he could have made this happen. He felt a hand on his as he turned from watching the reunions to see April looking up at him.

"Thanks for getting us out of there," she said. "I guess you're not a monster after all."

Jack smiled a little sadly. "I try not to be," he said sincerely.

"April! Ben!"

Another woman ran up and the two siblings ran to her, throwing themselves into her arms.

Kaley's mother came over to Jack and pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know how you did it but…thank you."

Jack smiled as she pulled away, warmth filling his chest and chasing away some of the exhaustion that was threatening to engulf him more and more.

He glanced up and caught sight of several familiar figures standing on the outskirts of the crowd. Stacy, Max and Eli were watching him and the scene that was unfolding. Jack glanced at them cautiously, but Stacy gave him a silent nod and the others smiled. Jack smiled back. Maybe they could forgive him too eventually.

He glanced up the street and saw the cops finally pulling up. It was time for him to go. He slipped away from the happy reunions and made his way through town. He took the bus back to his usual bus stop and walked the rest of the way to the bunker, his weariness pulling on him more and more, along with the all-encompassing ache that had taken over his body.

By the time he got to the door, he was nearly ready to collapse. He opened the door with a familiar screech and heard voices inside.

"Oh, hold on, mom, I think this is him now," Sam was saying, looking up from the war room toward Jack. "Jack! There you are!"

"Where the hell have you been?" Dean demanded, coming into the room as Jack started down the stairs. "We tried calling. A lot."

"Sorry, I was out in the woods and there was no reception," Jack said tiredly, grabbing the railing hard so he didn't fall, his legs shaking. His grace was still in shock it seemed, trying to surge forward and heal him, but seeming to only be misfiring instead.

Cas hurried into the room then. "Jack! What happened? Are you okay?"

Sam and Dean also seemed to realize he was hurt and rushed forward. Just in time too, because Jack nearly stumbled as he made it to the last step.

"Just…taking care of business," he said before he collapsed into the waiting arms of his adopted dads.

_~~~~~~~_

_Jack woke later to a much softer_ and more comfortable environment than the last time. His body didn't hurt quite so much either, though his grace still felt a little wobbly.

"Jack?"

He opened his eyes and saw Cas leaning over him, sitting in a chair beside his bed.

Jack blinked and groaned. "Mm, hello."

Cas' face looked pained. "How are you feeling?"

"Not as bad as I was," Jack said simply.

"Jack, what happened? Sam and Dean found news reports of missing children being returned by an unknown person. Did you do that?"

Slowly, Jack told Cas what had happened on his hunt. Cas' face tightened as he explained about his capture and the monsters taking his grace to make more super soldiers, but the angel looked proud when Jack told him about the children reuniting with their parents.

"Jack, what you did…it was foolish to go alone, but you were very brave. And You did a very good job. I'm proud of you."

Jack felt warmth fill his chest and he smiled up at the angel. "You are?"

"I am," Cas told him with a smile. "Look, I'm sorry we've been keeping you in the bunker lately, we just…we weren't sure about your powers now that you have them back. Thought it might be best you take a little time to get used to that again."

Jack glanced away. "You weren't wrong. I'm still not very good with them." He again thought of what happened to Stacy, and even Ben. He wondered if he would ever be able to practice enough to keep things like that from happening.

"But today you did very well, and you'll get better, Jack. We all do. And I will help you train so that you can practice more, how does that sound?"

Jack smiled. "I'd like that. But…I want to sleep right now."

Cas chuckled and squeezed his wrist. "Okay. You just rest then, Jack." He pulled the blanket higher over Jack's shoulders and the nephillim closed his eyes again, finally feeling a bit of peace wash over him.


End file.
